Pied Piper
The Pied Piper is a villain who appears in the storyarc known as Strays, which is his sole appearance in the mainstream Villains RPG universe - he is a henchman of the main antagonist of the story, Gepetto. History Origin The legendary Pied Piper was once an unnamed travelling minstrel who made a living going from town to town entertaining others with his flute - he was often left with little food or money and thus resorted to petty theft and begging when his work as a minstrel could not pay enough to sustain him. One day the Pied Piper travelled to a town that was infested with rats and the mayor offered a large reward for anyone who could rid the town of the vermin - however the Pied Piper had no means to do so and thus prepared himself for another few nights of begging. Yet fate would have it that the Pied Piper was visited by a travelling merchant who offered him a new flute for a single copper, taken aback by the absurdly low price and beauty of the flute's craftmanship he bought it without a second thought. The next day the Pied Piper played the flute and to his amazement the town's rats began to follow him, the mayor witnessed this and cheered the Piper on - the Pied Piper proceeded to lead the rats to a nearby river and through his enchanted flute led them to a watery grave. After completing his task the Pied Piper returned to the town to claim his reward only to find the mayor was a fraud and had no means of paying the reward he had offered - enraged and unable to be swayed by offers of lesser rewards (such as food and shelter) the Pied Piper stormed off swearing revenge. Sure enough the following night the Pied Piper returned to the town and played his flute, entrancing the children and leading them towards the same river he had drowned the rats - intending to do the same: the flute seeming to drive the once gentle traveller into a murderous frenzy as he envisioned the children as vermin. However before the Piper could succeed in his plan a group of men from the town arrived - their presence broke the Piper's spell and he was forced to flee as the crowd pursued, threatening to lynch him for his crime. So it was the legend of the Pied Piper came into being and many in Red's world believed that was the last they would ever see of the Piper - indeed it was.. though Red herself would not be so lucky.. Strays Powers / Abilities The Pied Piper has no abilities of his own save for the extremely long lifespan common to those who live in Red's world - where time goes at a much slower rate than it does in the mainstream world. However he is in possession of an enchanted item that makes him a dangerous opponent: *Flute of Command (this silver flute can not be destroyed and allows its user to play enchanting music that captivates the minds of others, allowing the Pied Piper to control their actions much like someone using advanced mind-control techniques. The price for such power is a decline in sanity, making the user suffer paranoia, rage and delusions that grow worse with each use of the flute) Category:Character Category:Evil-Aligned Characters Category:Minor Antagonists